Significance: Evaluating strategies for implementing telemedicine-based collaborative care in contract CBOCs should be a high priority for VA for several reasons. First, VA's Mental Health Strategic Plan includes plans for the rollout of collaborative care throughout the entire VA health care system. Second, the importance of providing mental health services in all CBOCs is highlighted by the recent introduction of a performance measure targeting mental health in CBOCs. Third, there are 183 contract CBOCs in the VA health care system, most of which have no on-site psychiatrists and are located in rural areas far from parent VAMCs. Fourth, the TEAM collaborative care model has been demonstrated to significantly and substantially improve depression outcomes in these small rural CBOCs. While the implementation of collaborative care in large VA-staffed clinics is an immensely challenging task, implementing collaborative care in small contract clinics is even more challenging. To prepare for national rollout, it is imperative that implementation strategies be developed and evaluated for these difficult settings in order to avoid the creation of a two-tiered system of care. National rollout strategies must target contract CBOCs to ensure access to collaborative care for all veterans and to prevent future health disparities. In addition, the results of the RIPPLE study will provide a template for the development of best-practice implementation strategies targeting other high priority QUERI disorders in contract CBOCs.